Blogs and Commentary

Eating Crow, Courtesy of the Wildcats

It was a great weekend of men’s college lacrosse. Among
the highlights, No. 2 ranked Johns Hopkins defeated No. 1 ranked
Virginia in overtime, UNC topped Maryland in a feisty ACC battle in
Chapel Hill, and Princeton and Yale played the longest game in each
program’s history by waging a five-overtime battle in New
Haven.

But the headline stealer from the weekend has to be Villanova’s 11-10
upset of Syracuse at the Carrier Dome, described
afterwards by Wildcats head coach Mike Corrado as “about as
big a win as we've ever had in our program."

Granted, by their own admission, the Orange have not played up to
their expectations thus far in 2012. Nevertheless, the only two
blemishes against them entering Sunday’s game were road
losses at No. 1 ranked Virginia and No. 2 ranked Johns Hopkins.
Surely, a return to Big East play against a Villanova team that had
lost three of its last four and seemed to be struggling to find its
way would be just what the lacrosse doctor ordered.

And that’s what I was thinking when I made my pick on Friday
in a little thing we call 10-2-Watch
here on Lacrosse Magazine Online. Not only did I pick Syracuse, I
also predicted that the ‘Cuse would win by five goals, a
comfortable margin that would provide no semblance to last
year’s 5-4 nailbiter between the teams at Villanova
Stadium.

So what does this game tell us, other than the fact that I’m
a clueless prognosticator? Could Syracuse be on the verge of seeing
its season disintegrate, similar to 2007? The Orange are not helped
by a schedule that features Duke, Princeton and Cornell in the next
two weeks. Or will this loss, which snapped SU’s 14-game
conference winning streak dating back to the birth of Big East
lacrosse in 2010, serve as a turning point for John Desko’s
youthful squad?

And what of the Wildcats? Will this milestone victory signal the
turning point in Big East supremacy and jumpstart the inconsistent
‘Cats to a postseason run through the second half of the
season?

Too early to tell on all fronts perhaps, and regardless, my track
record provides no credibility in my ability to answer those
questions. The only thing that’s for sure today is that my
plate of crow will likely go down better with a little ketchup.